A desirable couple?
by irish-surf-chick
Summary: Set in S4 after Luke & Lorelai's talk in 'Luke can see her face'. Lorelai drags Luke to a singles bar to prove to herself & the cats that she is still young and desirable...but he already knows. JavaJunkie! COMPLETE!
1. Part One

Hey guys,

Wow it has been a longgggggggggg time since I wrote an L/L fic. I spend any time I can writing 'Back to Reality' ( but to be honest I was just tired of writing Lauren and Scott fiction. Luke and Lorelai are soo much easier and less complicated and I missed those kids so here is the first instalment of a two part fic _(I think but we'll see)_. Hope you enjoy as it was a spur of the moment idea! Continues AU from the conversation between Luke and Lorelai in the kitchen in the Inn in episode #420 _'Luke can see her face'..._

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**PART ONE**

"Get your hand off my stomach" Lorelai said quickly once Shel had disappeared from View.

"You put it there"

"She's trying to set me up with Shel, the poultry guy? Why would she do that? I just broke up with someone." Lorelai said in disbelief, wondering if she was suddenly cloaked with some invisible light-up billboard saying she was now single and desperate.

"Yeah"

"We'd been dating for a few months now." Lorelai explained.

"I figured there was someone in the picture."

"You did? How?"

"Just clues. You know, you never dressed weather-appropriate, that kind of thing." Luke said in his usual gruff tone.

"Well I can bundle on up now."

"I'm sorry."

"Cats came to my house today."

"Really."

"Because they know I'm a loser and I'm destined to be alone." Lorelai replied dramatically, a voice in her head asking her if Jason had really meant that much to her. She knew he hadn't been 'it' but he was definitely something. Something, actually someone, someone to fill up some of her lonely nights, someone to dress up for, someone to talk about stupid things that didn't matter, someone to take her out…but definitely not someone she saw herself growing old with.

"You're not destined to be alone. You have Shel."

"Why is it so hard?"

"What, relationships? Look who you're asking." Luke almost scoffed, thinking back to Nicole…he wasn't sure which part was the worst, the getting drunk and getting married or catching her cheating and realising his pride was hurt…and not much else.

The two of them walked around the kitchen a bit, Luke looking at the tiles, thinking maybe just examining them really closely would tell him whether they were original without him having to ask Tom. Honestly he was doing all he could to keep his mind off the conversation he and Lorelai had just had, well at least while she was still in the room. When she has put his hand on his stomach he was sure she could feel his heart beating through his chest…obviously not.

"Hey I have an idea" Lorelai said loudly interrupting his thoughts.

"That does not sound good" Luke grunted.

"Hey Mr.Optimistic over there, how about you and I hit a bar tonight?"

"What?" Luke asked, suddenly feeling lost with where the conversation was going.

"We're single desirable people Luke; it's better than sitting home alone"

"No"

"C'mon Luke it'll be fun"

"It will not be fun, sitting in some smoke-filled bar with a bunch of women…"

"…And men" Lorelai interrupted.

"Whatever, it's pointless. I don't pick up women from bars, never have, and never will. It's just not me"

"See maybe that's why you're single, the right women could be going to that bar every week just waiting for her fishing flannel man to show his face so they could run off into the Sunset"

"No" Luke said trying to be adamant although Lorelai always had some way of getting past him, no matter how hard he tried to resist her charms…it was all in those blue eyes and pout.

"Please Luke, at least come with me. I need to get out of the house. Rory's not home to protect me against the cats, there were three this morning. I'm sure they're gathering troops as we speak!" Lorelai said touching his arm.

"I'll think about it" Luke said looking down and seeing her hand still on his arm. _'At least it will be a night out of the diner' _he thought, he if he didn't go he would sit in his apartment with a beer watching some crap on television. Well that or go to bed early…which when he considered it both sounded reasonable in comparison with bar-hopping or whatever Lorelai had in mind.

"Thanks Luke" Lorelai smiled knowing that was his way of giving in.

"I'm not going to pick up anyone" Luke replied obstinately.

"Well actually you are, you're going to pick up me at 9pm" Lorelai winked and he rolled his eyes before leaving the kitchen although not before Lorelai shouted "Leave the flannel at home" after him. Lorelai stood there, wondering what exactly she was doing… it's not like she picked up men at bars either. The whole concept seemed tacky and all she thought about were the trucker guys with the handlebar moustaches and cowboy hats. _'Ahh there's my future' _she thought.

**9.10pm later that night…  
**

Lorelai ran down the stairs putting on her shoe and nearly falling on the way as she went to answer the door. She was breathing hard when she opened the door to find Luke standing on her doorstop, minus the flannel like she had said. _'Will wonders never cease?'_ she thought. However she had to admit he was looking great in the tight black sweater and leather jacket, she tried to put it out of her mind that he had once wore the same outfit on a date with Nicole.

"Hey"

"Hi" Luke replied taking in the black dress Lorelai was wearing, it hugged all the right places and he liked how her hair was curled and fell over her shoulders gracefully. _'Stop it - this is not a date!' _he told himself…yet again.

"You look nice" she smiled.

"Yeah you too" he replied shooting her a small but shy smile in return.

"So we should go, there's a cool place about twenty minutes away"

"Great" Luke added sarcastically.

"C'mon you may find your dream woman" Lorelai said smacking him lightly in the arm as if trying to promote some sort of team spirit.

"I doubt that" he grumbled as he opened his truck door for her. _"…Because I already have"_ he thought as his eyes lingered on her long smooth legs as they climbed into the truck.

* * *

"A beer please and a…" Luke said turning to Lorelai who ordered a long island iced tea when they were both standing at the bar, it was pretty quiet at that stage as it was still reasonably early.

"See anyone you like?" Lorelai asked once they were seated at a small table near the bar.

"I told you I'm not looking"

"Fine"

"How about you?" he asked unsurely, glancing around to see the men around the bar who were clearly checking Lorelai out, he'd seen them ogling her since the two of them had walked in… not that he could blame them.

"Haven't seen any yet" Lorelai shrugged.

Nearly an hour later the bar had gotten pretty busy, Luke and Lorelai remained at the table together deep in conversation and both laughing at something Lorelai had just said. Both having seemingly forgot what they had originally come for the evening, as neither were checking out anyone but each other. _'This is better than I thought it would be' _Lorelai admitted. She had never heard Luke laugh or seen him smile as much as he was tonight, it was good, he made her laugh and he had funny anecdotes…who knew?

"You want another?" Luke asked a little while later when he saw Lorelai's drink was done.

"Uh yeah, a martini please" Lorelai said with a smile.

"I'll be right back" he said with a grin as he got up and manoeuvred himself through people in the direction of the bar. Lorelai sat tapping her newly manicured fingernails off the side of her empty glass as she waited for him to return, _'Oh my god, is this a date?'_ she thought as it suddenly hit her as to what exactly was going on. _'No, no, just two friends having a drink'_ she argued but she knew deep down she thought it was. When Luke smiled at her in that way he did she felt herself shiver slightly from the intensity in his eyes, at one stage in the evening he had even touched her leg…she had never experienced electricity like it before and she was scared. Plus the whole evening she had spent looking at him rather than looking around for other men, which was the original point of the night out.

"Hey" a deep voice said interrupting her thoughts causing her to look up in the direction of the mysterious voice.

"Hi" she replied to the thirty-something male standing above her.

"Can I sit down?"

"Actually there's someone sitting here"

"Well how about I keep the seat warm until they return" the man said sitting down in the seat. Once sitting Lorelai took in his features, brown eyes and back short hair that he looked like he'd spent at least half an hour styling.

"I'm Steve" the man said reaching his hand across the table.

"Lorelai" she replied shaking his hand.

"So what do you do?" he asked.

"I own an Inn actually" Lorelai said, a hint of pride in her tone as she said it. Whenever she thought of it she literally sometimes felt like it was all a dream that she would wake up from any minute now. _'Sure it isn't open yet but give it a few weeks'_ she thought to herself.

"Cool, is it near here?"

"It's in Stars Hollow, about 20 minutes west of here."

"I'll have to check it out sometime" Steve replied with a toothy grin.

"So what do you do?" Lorelai said, subtly looking over towards the bar to see if Luke was on the way back with their drinks. What she found was Luke talking to another woman at the bar, a blonde… great. _'Those must be his type'_ she figured remembering how Nicole had been blonde. However she felt an unfamiliar pang in her chest when she saw him smile at the mysterious blonde, she would never admit it was jealousy but as she kept glancing over at them every minute or so the feeling got stronger – and more annoying.

"…yeah so that's what I'm doing now" Steve rambled as Lorelai pretended to be paying attention.

"Hey" Luke said when he returned with two drinks.

"Hi Luke, this is Steve. Steve this is Luke" Lorelai said, feeling only right that she introduce the two of them.

"The boyfriend?" Steve asked.

"No" Lorelai answered a little too quickly, missing the look of disappointment wash over Luke's face before he disguised it quickly. It was a trick he had learned to master well over the years of being Lorelai's 'friend'.

"Good well then, Lorelai can I get your number?"

"Sure" Lorelai said taking out her business card and handing it to him. Luke watched the interaction, tightening his grip on both glasses and almost breaking his. _'What do I have to do to make her see me?' _Luke thought. Five minutes ago he'd felt on top of the world and now he felt defeated as he watched Lorelai pass the man her card.

'_This was my idea, Luke can't find someone and leave me looking like an undesirable loser'_ she told herself as she passed her card, knowing even if he did call that she wouldn't call him back anyway. Part of her knew she was only doing this because of the jealousy she felt when she saw Luke and the blonde woman at the bar…Lorelai decided that yes indeed ignorance was bliss and decided to disregard that part of her conscience that was telling her it was wrong to do this out of jealousy.

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Read and Review ). If you do I promise an update by Monday! 


	2. Part Two

_Thanks for the great feedback guys, really appreciate it. So much in fact that as promised I have an update today, Monday, as promised. I changed my mind on the whole 2 part thing so there will be one more part after this…enjoy ! R & R por favor )_

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**PART TWO**

_Previously…_

'_This was my idea, Luke can't find someone and leave me looking like an undesirable loser'_ she told herself as she passed her card, knowing even if he did call that she wouldn't call him back anyway. Part of her knew she was only doing this because of the jealousy she felt when she saw Luke and the blonde woman at the bar…Lorelai decided that yes indeed ignorance was bliss and decided to disregard that part of her conscience that was telling her it was wrong to do this out of jealousy.

Luke watched as the man got up from his seat and left, leaving him and Lorelai alone once again although Luke just stood staring down at the table for a few seconds.

"I need to use the men's room" Luke said and set his beer down next to Lorelai's drink and walked across the bar to the signs pointing to the Men's room. He smiled again at Sarah who was sitting at a table he passed with some of her friends. He had known her when they were teenagers and she was a good friend of Rachel's. It had surprised him that she had recognised him at the bar. He had to give it a minute before he could put a name to the face, the blonde hair had thrown him for a second. She was married to a lawyer now _'Good luck with that'_ he thought, his internal hate for all lawyers at its peak since Nicole.

Lorelai watched Luke walk off in the direction of the men's room, wondering why she had felt so awkward when she had given Steve her number…that had been the point of coming tonight right? _'No, you just wanted to spend time with Luke'_ a voice inside her head argued. Her and Luke had been having fun, then she had seen him talking to a woman at the bar and remembered what the whole point to the evening was, which surprisingly he seemed to be sticking to. So of course when asked for her number she passed it over, so what if Luke was watching? No big deal? Lorelai said trying to convince herself but she felt like her stomach was gradually becoming knotted, especially seeing Luke glance in the direction of the blonde woman again.

A few minutes later Luke returned to the table where an uncomfortable silence fell between the two of them.

"So I guess your night was a success then" Luke stated thinking of how Lorelai's goal of the evening was to prove to herself she was still a desirable woman…although he'd never had any doubt.

"I wouldn't go that far" Lorelai scoffed.

"Well a start maybe" he murmured as he looked down at his beer.

"Mmm maybe"

"He might not even call" Lorelai said, for some reason wanting to leave some doubt in Luke's mind.

"He'd be crazy not to" Luke scoffed before realising what he'd said and took a long drink trying to avoid her gaze. She smiled shyly down into her glass as she took a drink, knowing he was embarrassed at his last sweet comment.

Luke watched how Lorelai swirled her cocktail stick slowly around in her glass before lifting it up to her mouth and pulling the olive off it with her teeth and sucking it into her mouth. Luke had to tear his eyes away before he did something he might regret, so he sat and examined the beer mat until she was done. The conversation between them gradually returned to what it had been before the guy had come over, although the air between them had changed slightly as the number of drinks increased.

"I never thought I'd be this age and alone" Lorelai said in a low voice as she worked on her third martini.

"I never thought _I'd_ be this age and alone" Luke muttered before taking a sip of beer.

"You want to go? Suddenly I don't feel like being here"

"Yeah me neither, although we'll have to call a cab" he said as he mentally tried to count the number of beers he'd had, must have been at least four or five.

"Probably best"

A little while later the two of them stood outside waiting for the cab which should have been there. Lorelai stood outside next to Luke, it wasn't even _that _cold but yet she was trying to stop herself from shivering.

"Here" Luke said taking off his jacket and putting it over her shoulders.

"Thanks Luke" Lorelai smiled pulling the jacket tighter around her, unconsciously inhaling Luke's scent. It was a mixture between some cologne and the usual diner smell. She loved it, it made her feel safe in some strange way.

"Where is the cab? They are always so damn late and when they finally do grace us with their presence the driver has some crappy attitude and charges extortionate rates because he thinks he can. Well I'm…" Luke said beginning to rant as they stood out in the dark.

"Luke finish the rant later, cab's here" Lorelai said with a small smile when she saw a cab pull up just down from them. She grabbed his arm and pulled him over.

"Finally" Luke muttered.

"Stars Hollow please" Lorelai said to the driver once they were inside. Luke ranted in whisper in her ear about how small the backseat was and how it should be illegal to transport people in this size a space…apparently drinking made him rant more. Although Lorelai wasn't bothered by that. She was more bothered by the feelings she was getting when he was whispering in her ear. His warm breath on her neck and his body so close, it was driving her crazy.

"Here is fine thank you" Lorelai said when the taxi came up to the diner. She figured she'd get some coffee and walk home. The two of them got out, Lorelai actually falling slightly into Luke while getting out… She blamed the shoes. They both walked into the diner and Lorelai took her usual space at the counter while Luke went behind it and turned on the coffee machine.

"You know me well"

"If I didn't give you coffee you'd stay here and bug me, meaning keeping me from sleeping" Luke grumbled.

"Well I see this date hasn't helped your social skills" Lorelai said not realising she had just called it a date.

"Date?" Luke asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Date? Did I say date? I meant outing, yes outing…slip of the tongue. Speaking of which how do you feel about tongue piercings? I mean do guys like that, is that a turn-on for guys?" Lorelai rambled as Luke rolled his eyes, although a smirk playing on his features made him have to turn around to face the coffee machine.

"It doesn't turn me on…or any man with any type of hygiene. It's just unsanitary, how do you eat with one of those?" Luke said starting into full-on rant mode.

"Fine fine I'll tell Rory not to get one then" she laughed.

"The things that you find amusing astound me" he grunted as he poured her a cup of coffee and passed it over, she practically inhaled it and had it finished in less than a minute.

"Another cup" Lorelai said pushing her cup across his direction.

"No"

"Yes Luke please!"

"It's nearly 1am"

"I'll take it in a to-go cup even"

"You're going to die" he said but in spite of himself he still took a take-out cup from under the counter and filled it with coffee.

"Angel baby, you"

"Junkie, you"

"Okay well I'm gonna go. Thanks for coming with me tonight Luke" Lorelai said placing a hand over Luke's. The two of them had touched plenty of times, but when she put her hand on his tonight it was different, electricity pulsed between them even as their eyes met.

"I'll return the jacket tomorrow. Night Luke" Lorelai said with a smile and a wink as she turned and left, the bell ringing on her way out. Luke watched her leave until she disappeared into the dark night. Wondering how he ever let her convince him to go out to a single's bar with her when she was the only person he'd ever think of taking home.

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_Read and review….go on, you know you want to !_

_Update in a few days, what if Steve calls? Does Lorelai get jealous seeing the blonde in the diner? ... You'll find out soon!_


	3. Part Three

Thanks everyone for the great reviews, they mean alot...see how fast I got this chapter up. Plus the fact that I'm ill and would go crazy without something to do! Anyway thanks Maddy for beta-ing this chapter, you're a cracker )

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**PART THREE  
**

Lorelai woke up early enough the next morning so that she would be able to get her daily Luke fix…coffee fix that is, before having to head to the Inn for a meeting with Michel & Sookie at 10.30am. She smiled when she saw Luke's leather jacket hanging on the chair in her room where she had left it when she got home the night before. It looked like it belonged there. It would be nice, she thought, nice to have someone's things around her house sometimes. Lorelai quickly checked her hair and make-up in the bathroom before heading downstairs, grabbing her keys and heading to Luke's for breakfast.

Approaching the diner Lorelai wasn't sure, but now she felt nervous. Last night, well at least the start and end portions of the night had been very similar to a date. Outsiders may have conceived it that way if they had seen the two together, even insiders… such as herself had gotten somewhat mixed up. At several times even having to remind herself that they had both come out as single people looking for others like themselves, not each other…right?

"Coffee, coffee, coffee," Lorelai said loudly as she walked into the diner, looking for Luke at the counter but he wasn't around. Glancing around the diner she caught him. Sitting at a table, talking to the blonde! _'Why is she here? This early? God…desperate or what?'_

"That was fast…too fast," she whispered out loud to herself, taking a seat at the counter and turning her back to the two of them. Luke appeared in front of her a minute later.

"What can I get you?"

"Uh some good service may be nice. I've been here five minutes waiting to be served," she grumped, wanting to be annoyed at him for something.

"You just walked in two minutes ago."

"Three and a half actually, not that you would have noticed."

"Fine. What do you want?"

"A coffee…to-go. I'm a busy woman; don't have time to sit around."

"You okay?" he asked touching her shoulder gently, not getting where the attitude was coming from.

"I'm just dandy. Thanks for the coffee." Lorelai said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

"No problem," he said throwing her a confused look at why she was acting so strangely after the night before…he just put it down to Lorelai being, well, Lorelai.

Lorelai left the diner in a bad mood, glancing back through the diner window when she was in her jeep to see Luke back over at the table talking to the blonde.

* * *

"Yeah that was Lorelai," Luke said with a half-grin. 

"Aw I wish she could have stuck around, I would have liked to meet the girl who managed to capture Butch's heart," Sarah laughed.

"Sarah," Luke groaned.

"Okay okay. So when was the last time you saw Rachel? I got a card from her about a month ago, she was in Africa."

"Ahh she was here a few years back, I've only heard from her once or twice since," Luke said, feeling more comfortable talking to Sarah about Rachel than people around the town because she got that they were friends before they had started dating. Even though he wasn't in love with Rachel anymore he still missed their friendship more than he cared to admit.

"Oh you know who my husband works with now?"

"Who?" Luke said pouring coffee for two other customers in the next table.

"Daniel Buford."

"Dan the man." Luke laughed.

"Yeah, he's still _exactly_ the same, you should see him. Except now I can't believe I ever had a crush on him." Sarah laughed and Luke simply smiled down as he took down some orders. It was nice looking back on some things, when they had accidentally bumped into each other the night before she had said she'd come into the diner and catch up. Since she worked in Woodbridge she stopped on her way over. It was a long commute everyday from Hartford, he was just glad he no longer had to commute…he suffered from slight road rage, especially early in the morning.

"Hey you should come over for dinner, we'll get Dan over and you'll get a chance to meet my Michael."

"Sure that'd be good."

"You can bring your friend Lorelai if you want?"

"Maybe," he said shrugging, thinking letting her be in close contact with people he used to go to school with mightn't be the wisest decision, with embarrassing stories and such it would give her a lot of ammunition. Although still the idea of spending another night out with Lorelai didn't sound too bad to him.

* * *

Lorelai snapped at Michel about the number of references he was requiring for new staff at the Inn, of course as usual he wasn't paying attention to anything she said. Lorelai kept herself busy around the Inn, trying not to let her mind drift back to the woman in the diner with Luke. '_Why do I always feel threatened when another woman comes into Luke's life?'_ she wondered. Suddenly she heard a smash and a scream from the kitchen and ran in to find Sookie sitting on the floor surrounded by broken glass. 

"Sookie! What happened?" Lorelai said running to the aid of her friend.

"Well I was practicing with the sauce and then with the peppers and I was flipping, and then the window and my hand slipped and now the windows broken and my saucepan's outside." Sookie said hysterically as the pitch in her voice increased with every word.

"Are you okay?" Lorelai said helping her get up, luckily she wasn't cut.

"I'm okay but I'm so sorry Lorelai, it was there in my hand and then it's flying…" Sookie said beginning to become hysterical again.

"Sookie its fine it's a window, it can be fixed."

"I'll pay for it," Sookie started, lurching for her purse to get some money but Lorelai stopped her.

"Calm down hun, I'll give Luke a call." Lorelai said, already reaching for her cell phone.

"_Luke's," _a gruff voice answered.

"Hey Luke, it's me."

"Oh hey," he said, his voice instantly softening.

"We had a bit of an accident here at the Inn," she started to explain.

"Why what happened? Are you okay?" Luke said in a concerned tone.

"Well Sookie broke a window. Don't ask how. It involved Sookie, flipping sauce and a saucepan...enough said. Anyway I was wondering if you could maybe fix it. Tom and his guys are off today; hopefully getting us doors so there's no one around."

"Uh sure yeah, I can get off at lunch for a while when Lane comes in."

"Thanks Luke." Lorelai said smiling down the phone, knowing before she made the call that he would come through for her…like he always did.

**

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**

**A few hours later…**

"Hey," Luke said appearing in front of Lorelai holding up his toolbox and had a pane of glass under his arm.

"Hey Luke, hey Bert!"

"Don't talk to my toolbox," Luke grumbled as he followed Lorelai to see where the damage was.

"Dirty!" Lorelai giggled and he rolled his eyes and grumbled something she couldn't make out.

"Hi Luke," Sookie squealed.

"Hi Sookie," Luke grunted, heading straight to the window and got straight into it. Sookie shot a look at Lorelai who laughed to herself and poured a cup of coffee as she watched Luke work… just to annoy him of course.

"So you can do it Mr. Fix-it?" Lorelai inquired.

"I can do it."

"Good boy."

"So you have fun last night?" Luke asked after a few minutes when he saw she had no intention of leaving him here to work alone.

"Yeah I did, you?" Lorelai smiled.

"It was…okay." Luke grumbled but gave her a half lopsided grin which she understood to mean yes.

"Umm tomorrow night I'm going out to dinner and I was wondering if you…" Luke started to say until the annoying French man came into the kitchen.

"Lorelai you have a visitor at the desk, during work hours might I add."

"Yeah? Who is it?" Lorelai asked curiously.

"Why don't you go out and check." Michel replied in his thick French accent before turning on his heel and walking back out the way he came in.

"I guess I'll have to go and see." Lorelai said rolling her eyes before walking out to the foyer, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't her mother.

Luke felt like once again he had lost his chance at asking Lorelai out. Although he was only planning to ask her over to Sarah's for dinner but it would still be something, maybe after that he would finally be able to ask her out properly. His sister was getting married in a few days, Thursday actually, and he was thinking of asking her to come to the wedding with him.

"Hi Lorelai," a man greeted her; she stared at him for a few seconds with a smile on her face to cover the confusion as she tried to place who exactly he was.

"Hi there."

"Steve, we met the other night. I thought I'd check out your place," he said with a toothy grin.

"Oh Steve hey, well I'm glad you did," Lorelai said politely.

"You're just getting it up and running then?"

"Yeah, slowly but surely we're getting there. Would you like a tour?" Lorelai asked, forgetting stupidly that Luke was in the kitchen, which she wasn't exactly keen on him seeing Steve here.

"That'd be great," Steve said a little over-enthusiastically.

"Okay then." '_Chill dude it's only a tour, no need to get so excited,'_ Lorelai thought as she realized how far from her type this man was. Leading him upstairs and showing him the rooms, she rambled on about the special embroidered curtains and oak staircase. Just as they were walking down Luke came walking out from the kitchen with his toolbox in his hand.

"I'm d-done," Luke said surprised when he spotted Lorelai and recognized the man from the bar beside her.

"Oh okay thanks a lot."

"I have to get back to the diner," Luke said, looking back at Lorelai and then man before he left. _'I can't believe I was just getting ready to ask her out,'_ he thought angrily, kicking himself for almost doing something stupid like that. Getting his hopes up was another thing he hated doing, but around Lorelai Gilmore sometimes he just couldn't seem to help it.

"So the kitchen…?" Steve prodded as Lorelai looked back at the door that Luke had just walked out of.

"…Oh yeah sure," Lorelai said finishing the tour by showing him around the dining room and kitchen, already anxious for him to leave.

"I was just here on my lunch break so I gotta get back to work."

"Oh that's too bad," Lorelai lied.

"So can I take you out to dinner, maybe Friday night?"

"Uh Friday, sorry I have to have dinner with my parents. Why don't you just leave me your number and I'll give you a call." Lorelai said, not exactly lying.

"Sure here's my card. I'm looking forward to your call."

"Alright well get back to work before you're fired." Lorelai quipped and he laughed.

"Bye Lorelai."

"Bye," Lorelai said closing the door behind him. _'I love when great things like that happen at just the right time,' _she thought to herself sarcastically.

**

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**

**Later that night…  
**

"Hey Luke," Lorelai said as the bells jingled above the door in the diner announcing her presence.

"We're closed."

"Sure you are."

"There's no more coffee," he grumbled, not really in the mood to go into their normal routine quite yet.

"Are you trying to kill me?"

"No, hence why I'm not giving you coffee."

"Luke! I've had a long day, I still have no doors and Sookie's coffee really isn't as good as yours so c'mon."

"Fine," he mumbled making sure to pour a to-go cup.

"So before when you were at the Inn you seemed like you wanted to say something." Lorelai prodded, after having thought about it all afternoon she now finally had a chance to ask him.

"Say what?" he asked, his face giving up nothing. _'He should take up poker'_ she thought.

"You said something like you were going out for dinner," Lorelai said quietly, looking up at him trying to meet his eyes which proved more difficult than anytime she remembered before.

"Uh yeah…I'm going out tomorrow night, I just wanted to ask you to…bring my jacket back," Luke said, his defensive walls now rebuilt, not ready to be knocked down again if he chanced asking her out and being shot down.

"Okay, sure." Lorelai said quietly. Luke had to look at her face to check if it was her, as her voice was so low and quiet…not at all like the usual self-confidant tone he was used to. It shocked him when he thought he saw a flash of hurt dance across the blue in her eyes as she rose from her chair and took some money out of her purse. Although it disappeared almost as suddenly as it appeared, she replaced it with a half-smile before turning and leaving the diner. Luke leaned against the counter, watching her leave the same way he had the night before…except this time his barriers were up to stop the hurt moving to his chest. Yes he did the right thing, he would go to dinner with his friends and she would date whoever she wanted…friendship was better than nothing at all he decided.

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Will I continue or not? Up to you. This was originally a 2 piece fic, then 3 piece so you decide whether I should continue. Review por favor ) 


	4. Part Four

_Hey hey guys! I just want to thank you all for the great reviews…of course I had to continue this fic after that. You all rock! I could never let it end like that, the javajunkie part of my conscience would have me shot ). So here is the next part, I'm thinking there will be one or two more parts…I'll see where it takes me as to whether it will be 1 or 2 more. _

_Hope you enjoy, x x_

* * *

**Part Four**

Lorelai walked into the diner the next morning holding the leather jacket in her hands, rubbing her hands up and down the smooth inside. Desperately trying not to let the fact that he would be wearing this same jacket out on a date that night get to her…it seemed like a loosing battle and she wasn't sure why.

"Morning" Lorelai said loudly when she came into the diner, her attention immediately falling on Luke who was serving a customer at the counter.

"What can I get you?" Luke asked when she sat in her usual stool at the counter.

"Coffee, pancakes, bacon and some coffee. Oh do you have any pie?"

"You're not having pie for breakfast" Luke stated matter-of-factly.

"I am a customer, you can't tell me what I can't have." She replied indignantly.

"As the proprietor of this establishment I reserve the right not to serve, so no pie. There's pie baking at the minute, you can have some for lunch" He grumbled pouring her a cup of coffee which she grabbed and inhaled almost as soon as Luke had stopped pouring.

"Here" Lorelai said quietly passing the folded up jacket across the counter.

"Oh uh thanks. I'll just get your food" Luke said taking the jacket and walking quickly behind the curtain to the stairway to hang it up before disappearing into the kitchen. Lorelai drank her coffee quickly and grabbed the pot to pour herself another mug, trying to make a list in her head of things she needed to do at the Inn to take her mind off Luke's date. _'Why does he like blondes so much now?' 'Did Rachel put him off brunettes…her hair wasn't that dark though was it? Maybe he wanted Nicole to dye her hair blonde before'_

Luke appeared about five minutes later with her food, he knew it wasn't fair to other customers but he always tried to get Lorelai's food as fast as possible…he tried to tell himself it was because they were friends, but his conscience argued otherwise.

"So uhh you're going out tonight then?" Lorelai asked as she sat in front of Luke eating her pancakes while glancing at him every few seconds as he sorted through bills.

"Yeah"

"So uh where are you going then, tonight I mean" she asked, trying to make her tone as casual as possible.

"I'm just going to a friends for dinner" Luke shrugged before walking away to serve another customer.

'_She's cooking him dinner! God it's probably going to be romantic and he'll get all dressed up for her… He probably likes women who can cook' _Lorelai said, her mind now reeling at possibilities of the evening Luke had ahead. She hated the knot that had grown tighter in her stomach, the headache that was starting to come on and even worse she hated that she couldn't put all the Luke thoughts out of her mind. _'Why do I care so much who Luke dates?'_ Lorelai asked herself, but she knew the answer to that…it had just been ignored for so long that she had been able to perfect the skill of talking herself out of the answer.

"So you and that guy from the bar the other night…you two seem to be getting on well" Luke said quietly when he appeared at the counter a few minutes later. Apparently the lull had just begun and he couldn't help but wonder what was going on between the two of them, must have been something since he had been at the inn.

"Steve…uh yeah he's a nice guy." Lorelai replied with a small smile.

"Good…that's good" Luke grumbled as he started to wipe down the counter.

"I don't think we're going to go out though." Lorelai said quickly, feeling like she wanted to kick herself after for telling him that, it's not like he cared she told herself.

"Uh really, how come?" Luke asked as casually as possible, keeping his head down as he wiped down the tables. An activity he had perfected while she was around to keep himself from doing or saying anything stupid.

"Uhh y'know just not my type" Lorelai said shrugging and taking a big drink of coffee, avoiding his gaze.

"Oh okay" Luke replied, walking around the diner and started cleaning off the other tables. He needed to put a little distance between them so she didn't catch the very slight smile that was playing on the sides of his mouth.

"Well I have a to-do list longer than Kirk's resume at the Inn so I should go" Lorelai said taking some money out of her bag and leaving it on the counter before she stood up.

"Alright, bye"

"Yeah…bye. Oh Luke?" Lorelai said turning back to Luke.

"Uh-huh?" he said lifting his head so his eyes met her gaze.

"Have a good time tonight" she said in a quiet almost shy voice. The bell rang loudly in the quiet diner as she walked out and climbed into her jeep, not looking back once as she walked away. Luke stood at the window wiping down a table, wondering why Lorelai had been acting so strange with him. Especially at breakfast…she seemed different to him in some way, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. There was a nervousness about her and he wasn't sure why; in the end he put it down to stress over everything at the Inn.

* * *

Lorelai finished putting the games and DVD's on the shelf before going to check on the rooms to check they were all made up properly…minus the doors of course. There were so many things on her mind that she needed to do, finish hiring kitchen staff, get the dragonfly pillows done, get the Inn software installed on her laptop as back-up storage…too many things to list. 

The phone rang at the front desk, Michel wasn't there to answer it, surprise surprise. _'Why would he be? It's only his job' _Lorelai thought picking up the phone and rhyming out, 'Dragonfly Inn, this is Lorelai speaking…' The voice on the other end of the phone surprised her, the guy certainly didn't give up easily; she had to give him that.

"Hey Steve…sorry I've been crazy busy with the Inn…thanks I'm glad…tonight? ...I don't think I can make it tonight… I do work too much, trust me I tell my staff that all the time" Lorelai said laughing down the phone. _'Maybe I should take a break tonight'_ she thought, wondering why she was keeping this guy at arm's length. He was good-looking, very charming, had a good job, he seemed like a nice guy. _'Why is that not my type?'_ she asked herself remembering back to the conversation with Luke that morning.

"You're very persuasive…Oh it's a good thing…Okay sure I'll have dinner with you tonight…Seven?" Lorelai said before giving him directions to her house. Smiling to herself when she hung up, it was her first date since she was with Jason; she just hoped they were nothing alike.

Luke didn't know why he kept looking at the door whenever the bell rang through the diner; every time he looked up he was greeted by the face of yet another townie…except not the one he was waiting for. She usually came for lunch around that time and he had promised her some pie…he didn't like to admit he was disappointed when the late afternoon lull began and she still hadn't come in. '_She's probably swamped at the Inn' _he reasoned to himself, remembering all the times throughout the past few weeks she had come in looking frazzled and stressed about the grand opening.

* * *

**  
6.50pm that night…**

The front doorbell rang and Lorelai cursed upstairs at Steve's early arrival…didn't he know you _never_ turn up early for a date? Pulling on her shoes she rushed downstairs and opened the door to her date who was standing outside in a nice black suit, _'Very GQ'_ she thought.

"Hi Steve"

"Hey, I know I'm early, thought it would take me longer to get here" he explained.

"Well ten more minutes I could have looked prettier but your punishment for being early is my current state" Lorelai quipped, grabbing her coat and bag which were hanging on the banister.

"You look beautiful"

"Uh thanks" she said with a smile.

"Ready?"

"Yeah sure let's go"

* * *

That evening Luke spent most of his time catching up with his old friends, one's he hadn't seen in years. They didn't look a lot different, just older. It was their lives that were different; they were married, some with children. Even Dan had kids…Luke had never pictured that. Even though he was having a great time it was still slightly depressing for him, it reminded him that he was divorced and single. Too scared to ask out the one woman who he knew would make him happy…he felt slightly pathetic. At that moment Luke decided it was time; time to take the plunge, time to stop being too scared to try. It was his sister's wedding in two days, it was the perfect opportunity.

* * *

Lorelai sat in silence as Steve drove her home; silence, not something she was used to but he seemed to talk enough for the both of them. The date hadn't been the best, it turned out he was a little too cocky and self-serving for her taste. She now knew how much money he earned a year and how he was planning to buy a summer house in the Hampton's … great conversation. The whole evening she had made a mental list of things she could do when she got home from the date and things she needed to do for the Inn, the test-run was coming up and she was wasting an evening on this bad date. 

Steve walked Lorelai to her door, she wished he hadn't when she looked back now but he had. When she reached the door she turned to him, thinking a hug would show him that he hadn't made the best impression. Unfortunately he got the wrong idea and leaned in for a kiss, she opened her eyes wide when his lips touched hers and pulled back from him almost immediately.

"Night Steve" she said in a tone that she hoped he would realise was a final goodbye one. Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye she turned her gaze to the driveway where she saw a figure standing near the bush at the side of her house just off the street. _'Please no' _she thought.

* * *

Luke got home from Sarah's around 10.30 that night; he had excused himself early explaining that he had early deliveries the next morning. Technically it was true but really he wanted to take his chance when he had gathered enough courage to do it. If he left it until the next day chances are that he would back out of it. So grabbing the pie he had promised her for lunch and putting it in a to-go box he started the walk to her house. He walked slowly as he planned out what he would say…it was only his sister's wedding and he did need a date. Part of him was scared but a bigger part was a little exhilarated that he was finally taking his shot. 

When he reached her house he was surprise to see a black Porsche sitting outside in her driveway, something he hadn't expected. His attention moved to the two figures on the porch, Lorelai and the guy from the bar. _'Not your type…yeah right'_ Luke thought as he watched him move in for a kiss. It was the last thing he wanted to see but somehow he couldn't pull his eyes away and watched their lips meet before she pulled back. _'At least it was a short one' _he reasoned; but as short as it was it was burned in his memory. It burnt away any further intention he had of taking that chance; not tonight…not now.

* * *

_Show some love and review…It'll make me write faster! _

_P.S. Bribes are accepted and encouraged )_


	5. Part Five

_Well the new episode put me in the mood to write :). I love this show, Luke and Lorelai…I love those kids, don't you? Anywayyy thanks to all who reviewed, y'all rock my socks off! Think this is the penultimate part of the fic…I love how I get carried away from an original two part fic to a six part one. Lol it is my aim in life to one day write a oneshot…yeah I know I probably won't be able to but we all have ambitions right?_

_Anyway read, enjoy and review!_

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**PART FIVE  
**

Lorelai stood staring in shock at Luke, she didn't know why he was there, but what she did know was she didn't like how he was looking at her. It was an expression she couldn't read. One which she didn't think she'd seen before; she had to tear her eyes away to look back at Steve who apparently hadn't got the picture yet and was still standing there.

"Goodnight" she said again quickly before turning, opening the door to her house and walking inside. She walked quickly upstairs and looked out her bedroom window to see if Luke was still there, but he wasn't. She just saw the backlights of Steve's Porsche driving down the street…and she hoped it would be the last time she'd see his car anywhere near Stars Hollow.

Lorelai went to bed that night almost as soon as she got home; for once she didn't want to sit and mock some movie…all she could think about was Luke. Wondering why he was there at that time of night. Did his date go badly? At the idea that it had she wasn't sure why but her heart skipped a beat. _'Why do I want it to go badly? I want Luke to be happy…right?'_

* * *

**The next morning…**

Lorelai passed the diner for the sixth time, she wasn't sure why she couldn't bring herself to go in but something was stopping her. Coffee, she needed it, she'd been up half the night thinking and now needed the caffeine…but even that argument didn't seem to help her as she passed the diner for a seventh time. Unbeknownst to her Luke was watching her every time she passed it, and every time he rolled his eyes, truth is he didn't know what to say to her when she did come in. The night before he had been hurt at seeing her with the other guy but that soon turned to anger, wondering why she had told him that the guy wasn't her type and that they wouldn't go out if all along she had a date planned for that night. Just as he thought about it again he heard the bell above the diner door open and for once he didn't look up when she came in.

Lorelai stared at Luke who kept his head down and seemed determined not to look at her as he walked around the diner pouring coffee and taking orders.

"Can I order?" Lorelai said when he walked past her.

"Wait your turn" he grunted and continued on.

'_What the hell is his problem?'_ she thought as she waiting, tapping her fingernails against the counter impatiently and subtly watched him as he seemed to serve every customer in the diner before her.

"Lukeeee" she whined to get his attention.

"What do you want?"

"To order duh"

"I know that's why I'm asking what you want" he grumbled rolling his eyes, keeping any eye contact that occurred between the two of them to a minimum.

"Coffee and two doughnuts" she replied and he poured her a coffee and put two doughnuts on a plate without another word. She simply stared at him, wondering why he was acting like that with her, no rant about her health or argument over coffee…nothing.

"What's going on Luke" Lorelai asked when he came back to the counter.

"Go watch the news and you'll find out" he replied grumpily.

"Luke what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing I'm working" he said and then walked off to serve another customer. Lorelai finished her coffee and left the diner without another word to him; officially her day was off to a bad start, no banter and only one cup of coffee…definitely not a good start.

* * *

"Ugh worst.day.ever" Lorelai said walking into the Inn kitchen later that day. 

"What's wrong hun?" Sookie asked.

"The doors Sookie, still not here and we haven't got the kitchen staff yet; the pillows aren't done, I can't install this stupid thing for the check-in system and Michel, god if I hear one more damn thing about those dogs" Lorelai said moving straight to the coffee machine and pouring herself a large mug of coffee._ 'Still not as good as Luke's but it'll have to do'_

"I'm sick of hearing about the dogs myself. Don't worry about the kitchen staff, there are people coming in later who sound like they have good potential…and Tom, he'll get the doors." Sookie said trying to calm her friend down.

"Ugh it's not just that. I went into the diner today and Luke completely ignored me"

"Why'd he do that? Did you guys have a fight?"

"No, I don't know! I mean I was out on a date last night with this guy Steve…"

"Ohhhh how did it go? Is he nice? Did you guys …y'know" Sookie said getting excited and throwing a wink towards Lorelai to emphasize what she meant…as if it wasn't obvious.

"Bad, no and hell no…he's so far from my type he's almost a woman"

"Wow so bad huh. But what has this got to do with Luke?" Sookie asked becoming confused.

"Well Steve left me home and he, ugh he kissed me…idiot. Anyway Luke saw us, I have no idea why he was there but he was and he saw us and now he's acting weird with me. I mean he was on a date last night too so what's his problem?"

"Luke was on a date last night?" Sookie asked in a surprised tone.

"Yeah, with some leggy blonde…ahh yes the next Nicole, can't wait" Lorelai said sarcastically and Sookie hid her knowing smile as she heard the obvious jealousy in Lorelai's voice.

"Wow you kept that quiet. Are you sure Luke was ignoring you, maybe he was just really busy?" Sookie said trying to make her friend feel better.

"Uh he was ignoring me, like he talked to me but even more monosyllabic and grumpy than normal as if it's possible. Anyway I better get back to work but if you hear a scream it's Michel and he'll be six feet under and pushing up daisies by the time the doors _finally_ arrive" Lorelai said giving her friend a small smile before refilling her cup and walking out of the kitchen.

"Okay then" Sookie said before returning to stirring her soup, five practice batches and it still wasn't ready.

* * *

**  
Hours later…**

Lorelai finally finished for the night and got in her jeep to head home, it was almost eleven and she hadn't had a break all day. As she drove home she saw the lights still on in the diner, she knew it was closed but she stopped anyway…the closed sign never really phased her. When she approached the door she saw Luke standing at the counter going through bills, he looked up when the bell above the door rang.

"Hey" she said trying to act as casual as possible.

"We're closed"

"I just had the longest day ever, I need some coffee" Lorelai said ignoring his gruffness.

"Why can't you just make coffee at your own place?"

"Uhhh because that would require effort and I need some _now_"

"One cup and you're leaving" he grumped.

"What's up with you today?" Lorelai asked him; normally she was ready for banter but tonight it wasn't the same, he was just being grumpy with her.

"Nothing"

"Uh it's something; you're acting even grumpier than usual. I didn't think it was possible"

"Well I live to surprise you" he deadpanned, not about to tell her the real reason he had been in a bad mood all day. The two of them remained silent for a few minutes, Lorelai poured a second cup of coffee for herself and Luke continued with his usual daily closing up routine.

"I saw you last night" Lorelai said looking at him over her cup.

"I saw you too" he mumbled, for the first time of the evening he looked up at her. The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds before looking away.

"So why did you come by?" she asked.

"Uhh y'know for the thing with the place" he mumbled, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for his visit.

"What thing and what place?" Lorelai smirked.

"I just did okay, it doesn't matter now" Luke said, not being able to come up with a reason why he would be at her house at that time of night.

"You were back early from your friends" Lorelai hinted trying to get the scoop on his date.

"Early deliveries"

"So why were you at my house?"

"Go home Lorelai" Luke said gruffly.

"Luke why are you acting like this, what did I do?" Lorelai said not liking the feeling of Luke being annoyed at her.

"Nothing, it's just me okay…long day" he lied.

"Is it because of the guy from last night?" Lorelai asked ignoring his last comment. She knew she was bordering on potentially dangerous territory that they had danced around for years but for once she wanted to know. She wanted to know if the town was right all these years. She wanted to know if he was maybe feeling the same way she had been since they had gone out to the bar that night.

"You mean the guy who isn't your type that you were kissing on your porch?" Luke said a little harsher than he had meant.

"You have something you want to say?" Lorelai snapped.

"No, just wondered why you told me yesterday that you weren't going to date him and that he wasn't your type if you were going on a date with him last night." Luke said, knowing from her tone that she wasn't going anywhere until he told her why he was annoyed.

"He's _not_ my type and I'm _not_ going to date him"

"So you generally kiss guys who aren't your type and who you aren't going to date?" Luke said and Lorelai felt his eyes on her. She hadn't expected for the questions to be turned around on her, she had just wanted to know why he was at her house last night. Now he was standing there, two feet away from her asking her all these questions, staring at her with intensity in his eyes that she'd never seen.

"What's your problem Luke! So I had a date last night which by the way _sucked_ and if you had been on that damn porch you would have known that _he_ unfortunately kissed _me_. And he's not my type I just wanted a break from the Inn and he asked me out. Yes I know it probably wasn't fair but that's _none_ of your business"

"Fine it's none of my business" Luke grumbled but felt a bit better that she had no plans to date the guy again.

"I mean you're not exactly forthcoming about your dates" Lorelai said, desperately wanting to know about his date the night before_. 'I wonder if his date sucked as much as mine, I hope so…not that I don't want Luke to be happy, just not with a blonde'_ Lorelai said to herself, trying to convince herself that she didn't care.

"That's because I don't date"

"You dated _Nicole_" Lorelai said, practically spitting out the woman's name.

"I mean I don't date much" Luke said taking her empty cup off her to prevent her from pouring another.

"What about last night?"

"What about last night?" he asked curiously.

"Your date last night" Lorelai said slowly feeling as if she was speaking another language.

"What are you talking about?" Luke asked confused.

"You had a date last night, a date and a leather jacket and a blonde and you didn't tell me about that" she said quickly in an accusatory tone.

"I did not have a date last night"

"What?" Lorelai now feeling confused.

"I went over to my friend Sarah's for dinner last night"

"Sarah, who's Sarah? How come you have friends I don't know about? You never come to my house for dinner and we're friends" Lorelai said feeling strangely jealous that he had friends that she didn't know about, more jealous that he had a female friend and that he had dinner with her.

"She's my friend, I've known her since high school. And you can't cook so if I was coming to your house for dinner I would be making it for myself or end up in the hospital for two weeks with food poisoning"

"You guys are old friends…so you're not dating?"

"She's married" Luke said with a grin as he looked up at her and he thought he saw her smile down at her hands.

"Oh she's married…that's nice. So you guys _are_ just friends then" Lorelai said not being able to hold back a small smile.

"She was a friend of Rachel's, so yeah we were always _just_ friends."

"Good…I mean that's good that you're friends with someone from high school. I don't keep in contact with anyone I went to high school with, well except Christopher and that's only because of Rory…and even that contact is small. So yeah you have a friend from high school, that's nice" Lorelai rambled, making Luke grin down at the counter he was wiping.

"So why did you care that I was out on a date?" Luke asked with a grin as he walked around the counter to wipe the nearest table.

"I didn't care… and you weren't on a date, she's married and you're friends but I didn't care. I was just showing an interest in your life y'know because we're friends."

"Okay"

"So I should go now" she said, feeling like she needed to get out of there before she said something stupid…or even more stupid as the case may be.

"Yeah now that I've been closed for an hour it's the perfect time to leave" Luke deadpanned.

"Not that you would care…but I'm really not going to date Steve again" Lorelai said walking to the door.

"Good to know" Luke said, letting her see him smile for the first time that evening as he opened the door for her.

"Night Luke" Lorelai smiled touching his arm lightly before she walked outside and got in her jeep. _'Luke was jealous'_ she smiled and sang along to the music on the radio, in the half hour she was in there her mood had flipped a 180…she was definitely glad she ignored the closed sign.

"Night Lorelai" he said closing the door behind her and turning off the lights before walking upstairs, _'She cares who I date'_ he thought still smiling as he walked upstairs.

* * *

_And...scene! What did you think? The good, the bad and the ugly baby. Review my little grasshoppers x_


	6. Part Six

_Hey hey! Well guess what, I have decided to do one more part to this story. I mean all good things come in sevens right, the seven days of the week, the seven dwarfs, Seven-eleven (for all ye American folk), seven deadly sins…so yeah. This is for sure though, lol 5 more parts than originally planned, oh yes that's well thought out._

_Anyway hope you enjoy the chapter. Thankyou so much to everyone who has reviewed, you guys rock! No kidding, love to y'all! After this I'm going to start writing more of my Back to Reality fic don't worry I will update soon!

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_

**PART SIX**

The next morning Lorelai walked through the towns square on her way to get her daily coffee fix. She looked around the towns square at all the activity and people, she figured there must have been an event coming up. '_Man I need to get the update on town events'_ she thought as she wondered what exactly it was.

"Lorelai wait up!" a voice screamed from the gazebo.

"Liz! Hey what are you doing here?" Lorelai said when Luke's sister had run across to meet her with a big hug.

"I'm getting married in the town's square!"

"Wow congratulations Liz!" Lorelai smiled giving Liz another hug, she didn't know why she felt so comfortable with a woman she had only met on a handful of occasions.

"Thanks! So you're coming right?"

"Uh yeah sure, I mean I didn't know about it until two seconds ago" Lorelai said surprised at the quick invitation.

"Really? Luke told me he was going to ask you"

"Ask me?"

"Yeah to come with him, as his date I think" Liz shrugged.

"Oh okay, well I'm sure he's getting around to it" Lorelai said, unable to help a small smile from gracing her features. Also there was the similar feeling of fear, wondering if this was finally the time she'd have to decide once and for all whether they would choose friendship or something more. It was there, it had _always_ been there, growing beneath the surface and she wanted it, she always knew she did. It was just admitting how much she wanted it… and how much she wanted him that was the problem.

"I hope so! It's a renaissance wedding so feel free to wear something from that period" Liz said excitedly.

"I will. Thanks Liz"

"No problem. Anyway I should go, I need to make sure the turkey leg guy is coming"

"Uh okay then, well have fun" Lorelai said shooting her a smile and continuing her walk to Luke's. Wondering if and when he was planning on asking her to the wedding, there was such a thing as short notice after all.

"Good morning Vietnam" Lorelai said loudly when she entered the diner. Luke simply looked up at her and rolled his eyes before grabbing the coffee pot and had poured a cup of coffee for her by the time she reached the counter.

"Soo…anything new?" she hinted when she had inhaled almost the entire cup of coffee.

"Umm no"

"Nothing at all?" she asked, staring at him with a knowing gaze.

"Well Taylor is bugging me and I can't get away from him because of that damn window. It's like an entire day of annoyance by just seeing him"

"Good good, so anything else?"

"No"

"Anything else?"

"Apart from no, _no_"

"Your sisters getting married, that's new"

"Well yeah but you knew that"

"Uh no I didn't, your sister just told me two minutes ago. I feel so out of the Luke-loop" Lorelai said giving him a pout.

"How could you not know? It's in the town's square, everyone knows. Babette is your neighbour!" Luke grumbled, genuinely surprised she hadn't known. Although he had been surprised she hadn't asked him more annoying questions about the wedding before this.

"Well the inn has been crazy and I haven't got caught up on my Stars Hollow gazette yet" Lorelai sighed and Luke watched her out of the corner of her eye, she looked tired. The inn seemed to be taking a lot out of her, after the 5am coffee run the other day and the big cut down on her daily coffee trips to the diner…she needed a break. With the talk of his sister's wedding and her just saying that she had been busy, it was the perfect time to ask her.

"Lorelai, my sister's wedding, would you…" Luke started.

"Luke this toast, it tastes like eggs!" Kirk shouted from across the diner.

"It does not taste like eggs Kirk"

"So you were saying?" Lorelai prompted. She knew she had felt a little fear before when she had thought Luke was asking her out, but truth was she wanted him to ask her. She wondered what a typical date with Luke would be like; although technically it wasn't a typical date since it was his sister's wedding but still…she wondered.

"Uhh yeah well I was thinking…"

"Seriously Luke this toast, I demand reimbursement for this. I did not order egg toast" Kirk said loudly walking over to the counter next to Lorelai and placing the toast down in front of Luke.

"You haven't paid yet Kirk" Luke grumbled impatiently.

"Eggs! Luke I could sue, what if I was allergic"

"Get out of my diner Kirk" Luke replied, the irritation clear in his tone.

"You can't tell me what to do, you're not my mother" Kirk complained, Luke sighed sensing one of his tantrums coming on.

"I'm gonna go, I'm already late" Lorelai said, knowing that Luke's mood had now been ruined and she could see the argument with Kirk going on for a while.

"Alright, well…bye" Luke said glancing at her, their eyes locked for a second in some sort of strange silent understanding that they would see each other later.

* * *

Lorelai rushed around the rest of the day like a chicken with its head cut off, the test run was coming up and as the days passed her list of things she needed to do didn't seem to be getting any smaller. Standing at the front desk she finalised the RSVP's while cursing Michel for calling to say he was late because of his sick dogs. 

'_Dragonfly inn, Lorelai speaking'_ she rhymed out every time the telephone rang. The seventh time in the past ten minutes she answered with the same line but was pleasantly surprised when she heard the familiar voice on the other end.

"_Hi, it's Luke"_

"Oh hey Luke"

"_Hi…so uh how's the inn?"_ he asked, deciding small-talk would be a good start.

"Good. How's the diner?"

"_Ah well Kirk left so it's better"_ he said and she smiled.

"I just hope he doesn't turn up here looking for a job again" Lorelai said and was surprised when she heard a small chuckle come from the other line.

"_I threatened to call his mother"_

"Wow you brought out the big guns with that one" Lorelai laughed, suddenly aware that she was twirling the phone cord around on her finger and felt like she was fifteen again. So she quickly stopped herself and changed activity to doodling on the notepad on the desk.

"_He hopefully won't be back today"_

"Uh great. So is there anything I can do for you?...I mean is there a reason for your call" Lorelai said, an instant _'Dirty' _coming into her mind when the first part of the sentence came out.

"_Yeah well…I just wanted to tell you Jess is back for a few days. He's part of the wedding, I just didn't want you to be surprised if you saw him, y'know around town or whatever"_ Luke said, feeling better about his story when it came out, he didn't want to ask her to his sister's wedding over the phone. It was in two days and he knew if he didn't ask her soon she would maybe have other plans made. Plus he'd found out that crazy Carrie was going to be at the wedding, and the last thing he'd want is to be around her on his own.

"Oh okay thanks for telling me"

"No problem"

"Okay so I'll see you later then" Lorelai smiled down the phone, sensing some nervousness in his voice, she was just glad she wasn't the only one.

"So you'll be coming in the diner then?"

"Uh later I should be, hopefully I'll get there before closing" Lorelai said, smirking slightly, knowing that even if she didn't make it before closing she would go in anyway.

"Okay good, well see you later then"

"Bye Luke" Lorelai smiled as she hung up.

* * *

**Later that night…**

Lorelai stepped into the diner just after closing, although she had made no real rush to get there before that. She didn't want Kirk or anyone else interrupting them again so this way she could make sure of it…she just hoped he would still ask her. Even just as friends, she didn't mind, it might even be better. If they got on as well as they did when they went to the bar as friends then she was all for it.

"Evenin' good sir" she smiled when she came in.

"A minute later and the coffee would have been thrown out" Luke grumbled in his typical Luke way. He had almost given up on her coming, but he knew just as he was about to throw the spare coffee out and head upstairs that she would turn up at his door…and so she did.

"Well wouldn't that be a sin"

"Also known as a blessing to your health" he said as he poured her a cup.

"Mmm can I have some pie, and a doughnut?"

"No more doughnuts"

"Okay fine I'll have two pieces of pie…mm cherry please" Lorelai smiled and Luke disappeared for a minute before returning with two pieces of pie, extra big of course.

"Thanks"

"So busy day then?"

"Yeah, Michel called in late because of his dogs. Although funnily enough that to-do list I thought would never get smaller is actually decreasing. The tiniest bit at a time but hey it's something!"

"Good, I told you that you could do it"

"Did you?"

"Twice" he grumbled.

"I don't remember" she teased and he looked at her with a furrowed brow, which he found hard to keep when she was giving him that smile over her coffee cup.

"Don't lie"

"So, Kirk this morning, you find out the mystery of the egg toast?" she said with a small smile.

"He's insane, this whole damn town is insane" he grumbled just as Jess came into the diner.

"Hey" he mumbled to the two of them before retreating upstairs.

"Well he's as talkative as ever" Lorelai quipped.

"He's doing better"

"I'm sure" Lorelai said, trying not to let the sarcasm drip from her tone.

"He is, he'll be good, I know it" Luke said in a soft voice but one of sincerity that she recognised as faith in those he cared about. No matter how much Jess or his sister screwed up he would always be there to help them, she imagined how safe she would feel if Luke were her family.

"Well it's good that he's here for Liz's wedding" Lorelai conceded.

"Yeah it is."

"It looks like an interesting wedding, renaissance, should be fun" Lorelai said as she took another big bite of pie.

"Bunch of crazy people with nothing better to do than wear crazy clothes and eat turkey legs"

"Mmm what a girl wouldn't do for a turkey leg…mm _dirty_" Lorelai said and smiled wider when she caught Luke grin as he wiped down the counter.

"So you'd like to go?" Luke asked.

"To the wedding?"

"No to the turkey leg factory. Yes to the wedding" Luke replied pretending to be irritated, but both of them knew better.

"Ah well if I got the right offer I could be convinced" Lorelai said, making eye contact with him as she sipped her coffee.

"It's on Thursday, I was thinking maybe we could go together. Give you a break from the inn for a while, it could be fun"

"Did Luke Danes just say the F word?" Lorelai said acting like she'd just heard the most shocking news of the year.

"Shutup" he grumped wishing she could just give him a straight answer.

"Well that's a lovely way to treat someone you're asking out"

"I'm asking you to a wedding, I'm not asking you out." _'Liar'_ he thought to himself.

"Oh" Lorelai said, feeling slightly disappointed which Luke didn't fail to recognise.

"I mean I'd like you to go with me" he said trying to redeem himself.

"Sure we're friends, and I like your sister so sure. Who can say no to turkey legs" Lorelai said after quickly covering up her disappointment with a smile_. 'I said it would be fine if we just went out as friends so why am I disappointed that it's not technically a date?'_

"Okay well I'll come by your house and we can walk over together" Luke said with a smile he couldn't hold back. _'I just asked Lorelai Gilmore out on a date and she said_ yes'

"Good okay then"

"You don't have to wear anything fruity"

"Oh I'm gonna wear something a little fruity" she said shooting him a smile he knew by heart.

"Good okay" he grinned as he watched her stand up and pick up her handbag.

"So I should go, fruity clothes to plan" she quipped.

"You need me to walk you home?" he asked, suddenly wanting to go for broke.

"I have the jeep" she explained but smiled at his thoughtfulness.

"Good okay well goodnight"

"Night thy Luke, owner of ye olde diner" she smiled and he grinned back and rolled his eyes before locking the door behind her and watched her drive away. '_Just a day and a half'_ he thought to himself with a smile.

* * *

_And happy Saturday ). Hope you liked, review and I'll update by Tuesday! _

_P.S. Thanks for the cookie bribes before guys, mmm scrumdiddliumtious (go on, what book is that from?)_


	7. Part Se7en

Hey everyone! And here's the final chapter…finally )

Thanks everyone for the great reviews of both this new fic and BTR, y'all rock! Sorry I didn't update on Tue…unless I meant _this_ tue, which would mean I'm early eh? Lol. Anyway I hope you like this last part.

Thanks to Yvonne for beta-ing ! xx

* * *

**PART SE7EN**

Lorelai drove home in a slight daze that night. Luke Danes, diner owner extraordinaire, had asked her out. _'Okay technically he said he didn't ask me out but still…oh god what am I going to wear?'_ she said going into _'pre-date freak-out'_ mode as she mentally made a content list of her wardrobe trying to come up with something fruity but pretty that she could wear.

As soon as she reached the house she picked up the phone to call Rory, she knew she would probably be mad about her disrupting her precious studying but she didn't care. There was also the J-word thing she needed to tell her, Jess that is, tell her that he was back.

"Hello" Rory answered in a tired voice.

"Hey babe" Lorelai said cheerily.

"Ugh why so cheery"

"Wow grumpy much?"

"I'm trying to study for my last final" Rory moaned.

"Well I just called to tell you two things. Umm one, the J-word and two Luke"

"The J-word?" Rory asked confused.

"Jess, umm he's back. Just for a few days, I didn't know where we stood on the whole issue but Luke told me today so just letting you know"

"You don't have to refer to him as the J-word. But yeah, thanks for telling me"

"Okay good now that's over with I have some…news"

"That involves Luke?" Rory pressed.

"How did you know?" Lorelai said in a surprised tone.

"You just told me two seconds ago you had two things to tell me about, the J-word and Luke…so lucky guess" Rory said rolling her eyes.

"Thought we weren't referring to him as the J-word anymore?" Lorelai said with a evil grin, knowing just how to annoy her daughter.

"Mom!"

"Okay, wow Yale has got you grumpy. Anyway, Luke, he asked me out"

"No!" Rory said surprised, she thought it would take him at least another six months to a year.

"Yes, I mean technically it's not a date, it's a wedding and hell I don't even know if he meant it as a date but he asked me." Lorelai said feeling slightly light-headed, the one thing keeping her sane and also driving her a little crazy was the fact he wasn't _technically_ asking her out.

"Who's wedding is it?"

"His sisters, Liz, that's why the J-word is back. It's a renaissance wedding though so I have to wear something a little whimsical and I have _nothing_"

"You have loads of dresses you could wear"

"But Luke's seen all of them, I want something new. Come shopping with me tomorrow"

"I can't, finals remember!"

"Oh yeah, damn. Maybe I'll ask mother dearest, AKA Emily Gilmore to come, after last time at the mall I'm sure there are 'Wanted' posters up all over the place and they're could be a reward" Lorelai joked.

"Just go by yourself or take Sookie"

"Uh nah I'll have trouble leaving the Inn myself, if I take Sookie too I think Michel may have an aneurism…mmm maybe I will bring her"

"Do you even know how you get an aneurism?" Rory smirked, wondering what hospital show she had learnt the word off.

"Uhhh so you have to study" Lorelai said, not a clue as to what it actually was, never mind how you got one.

"No more ER for you"

"Actually I picked that up off Grey's Anatomy, some hot guy said it, sounded good"

"Glad to see your educating yourself…which by the way I _really _need to get back to"

"Fine, fine. Hey maybe I can email you pictures of clothes and you can help me pick something to wear via cyber space, futuristic eh? George Lucas would be proud"

"Bye mom" Rory said rolling her eyes as she hung up the phone.

"Bye my evil spawn" Lorelai said before hanging up and turning on the television.

**

* * *

**

**The next day…**

Lorelai drove through town the next afternoon and glanced over at Miss Patty and her ballet dancers trying to get ready for the wedding. She smiled and waved over to Patty and Chrissy. Her mood was at its best after she had made a quick trip to the mall and found the perfect dress for the wedding. That and some flowers in her hair, yes, it seemed just right. She'd even gone so far as to buy a wreath for Luke, a manly one of course in case she managed to talk him into wearing it…although truthfully she knew it was just a teasing prop.

"Hey Luke" Lorelai said when she walked into the diner.

"Hi"

"Coffee and a bagel to go, stat" Lorelai said taking a seat at the counter. '_Wow I never realised_ _how this medical jargon sticks'_

"You in a rush?"

"Yeah, need to get to the Inn"

"You haven't been yet?" Luke asked, surprised since she had hardly left the place lately.

"Oh well I was in this morning but I just went to the mall, I needed a dress for Liz's wedding" Lorelai said shooting him a smile.

"You get one?"

"I sure did, I also got a little something for you too" Lorelai said giving him a seductive smile which she used frequently to try and make him blush.

"What is it?" he said as he placed the bag and to-go cup in front of her.

"You'll see tomorrow" she smiled before picking the bag up and turned to walk out of the diner, subconsciously swaying her hips a little more than usual because she knew he was watching her walk away.

"Yeah…tomorrow" he mumbled as he watched her walk away.

**

* * *

****D-Day, finally...**

Luke lay awake the next morning, he heard Jess's snores from the other side of the room which were strangely comforting. He would never admit it to his nephew but he'd liked having him around again. The aloneness that had cloaked him since the divorce had lessened since his return.

Lorelai woke early that morning; she'd gone to the Inn quickly to drop a few things in but left before Michel started whining about her taking the day off. Luke said he would be around to walk her over at two and it was 1.25 and Lorelai still stood in her underwear. _'This is Luke, it shouldn't be a big deal, he's sees me everyday…he'll probably barely notice what I'm wearing'_ she kept telling herself.

Luke was nervous when he approached her house, he wasn't used to wearing a suit, he felt like the tie was choking him. The walk over to her house had been embarrassing, Babette and Miss Patty had followed him half the way whistling at him the whole time…subtlety wasn't their forte. The other half he'd spent trying to keep his cool. Jess had teased him before he left about putting a sock on the door later that night, and he'd received a quick smack around the head for it. Lorelai sat in the living room waiting for Luke, it was probably one of the first times she'd been ready for a date early, _'Shutup, it's not a date'_ she kept reminding herself.

'_Wow he looks great'_ she thought as she watched him walk up to the house in the suit.

"Hi" she smiled when she opened the door to see him standing on the porch.

"Hey"

"Nice suit, don't you clean up nice" Lorelai complimented, making him break into a wider smile.

"You look beautiful" he replied before taking a deep breath.

"Uh flattery will get you everywhere my friend" she smiled, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't remember the last time he'd called anything or anyone beautiful_. 'I feel special…and no not in the eating the paste kind of way'_.

"So we should get going"

"Oh no I have something for you" Lorelai said running back into the living room and picking up the 'manly' wreath.

"Here"

"What is this?" he asked with a confused look on his face.

"It's a wreath, a manly one, we could match" Lorelai said pointing to hers and then attempted to put it on his head.

"I'm _not_ wearing that"

"Oh c'mon you'll be a hit with all the ladies like Julius Caesar"

"Lorelai" he said sternly, '_We need to get out of here or she'll somehow talk me into wearing that'_

"Okayyy fine I'll be the whimsical one"

"You ready"

"I am…uhh let us go where thy… wedding waits" Lorelai said trying to think up renaissance language.

"Nice job" Luke laughed and the two of them left.

* * *

Luke and Lorelai stood up after the ceremony, it hadn't been as ridiculous a ceremony as they'd anticipated at the beginning. 

"I'll be back in two minutes" Lorelai whispered.

"Well Butch doesn't this ceremony make you want loveee" a voice said coming up behind Luke. The same one he'd heard at the bachelorette party a few days ago and the one he wouldn't care if he never heard again.

"Carrie…hey" Luke said as she hovered above him.

"Is that your power suit?"

"It's my only suit"

"Looks pretty powerful to me" Carrie said taking Lorelai's seat.

"Uh actually that's saved for someone" Luke said, wanting nothing more than for this woman to leave him alone.

"Well I'll just keep you company until they come back"

"So…where's your husband?" Luke asked, praying the poor man was around somewhere to take her as far away from him as possible.

"I'm flying solo today, left the old ball and chain at home…which means we can both be lonely together huh?" Carrie said putting a hand on Luke's thigh for a second. Lorelai watched in amusement the interaction between Luke and the mystery woman. 'Could he look anymore uncomfortable?' she thought as she watched on.

"Hey you miss me honey?" Lorelai asked going up behind Luke and wrapping her arms around his neck, as much as she loved watching Luke squirm she preferred to be the one making him do it. Plus the hand on Luke's thigh and the woman taking her seat gave her a funny feeling.

"Uhhh…" he said looking back at Lorelai with a confused frown.

"Hi I'm Lorelai" Lorelai said holding a hand out to the woman beside Luke.

"Carrie" Carrie said with a look of distaste, making no move to get off the seat beside Luke.

"Good to meet you and yes feel free to take my seat" Lorelai said with a pasted smile on her face as she moved around to the front of Luke and sat down on his lap.

"What are you doing?" Luke muttered into her right ear.

"Well this is much more comfortable" Lorelai said with a smile directed at Carrie ignoring Luke's question.

"I'm going to congratulate Liz" Carrie said looking at Luke and ignoring Lorelai.

"Okay bye" Luke said uncomfortably, his arms dangling at his sides after Lorelai had sat down and he didn't know where to put his hands.

"Save me a dance later Butch?" she asked before leaving.

"Uh I don't dance" Luke grumbled and Lorelai smiled at him.

"Hey, how 'bout we work on him together? I think there's a hoofer buried deep inside there, don't you?" Lorelai said to Carrie, knowing it would probably take a lot to make Luke Danes dance in public. _'Does he even know how to dance? ...probably not'_ she thought as she tried to imagine it.

"I guess." Carrie muttered, obviously irritated by Lorelai's presence.

"That was fun" Lorelai said moving off his lap to the seat next to him after Carrie walked off.

"You're crazy" Luke replied in his usual tone, trying to act grumpy which Lorelai wasn't buying as she shot him a seductive smile. He rolled his eyes before turning his head to hide the grin that was playing on the sides of his mouth.

* * *

"You want a drink?" Luke asked as he stood up from the table. 

"Please thy flannel master" Lorelai answered and watched him walk away. She smiled when she saw him being stopped by the juggler before he reached the drinks. Apparently the juggler was interested in opening a restaurant so he was trying to ask Luke's advice. It surprised Lorelai just how great a time she was having. She liked hearing Luke laugh and hear his stories… again who knew Luke had anecdotes? It was the same as it had been when they'd went out to the bar before Steve came along and screwed things up. After ten minutes, Luke was still standing with the juggler looking more bored than she would at a football game she decided to go and save him.

"Hey can I steal him away for a second" Lorelai said to the juggler.

"Sure, speak to you later"

"He juggles for money, you know there is circus school? His parents must be proud" Luke grumped and Lorelai grinned when she thought he was going to start ranting. Unfortunately all she heard was Kirk's voice over the speakers asking people to dance along with Liz and T.J…she loved ranting Luke.

"Oh, hey, so your food's probably cold. You want to go get some more?"

"Sure, or we can...you know." Luke asked nervously, hoping pick up on what he was asking.

"We can...do what?"

"You want to dance?" Luke asked, figuring he just needed to go for it. They'd been having a good time, at least he was,

"Really?" she asked obviously surprised.

"Yeah."

"Um, you said before you don't dance." She said with a small smile as her curiosity got the better of her, the butterflies quickly returned to flutter about her stomach as she looked at how he was looking at her. _'Luke, grumpy diner owner wants to dance with me'_

"Well, I'm a compulsive liar." He grinned, trying to appear confident so she wouldn't know how nervous he really was. All he wanted was to take his chance, he didn't want to let yet another opportunity go by where he didn't do anything and then regret it later.

"Um, okay, yeah, let's dance." Lorelai said placing her hand in the one he held out to her. The two of them walked onto the dance floor, both tried to conceal their nervousness as Lorelai put a hand on Luke's shoulder and placed the other in his hand. Her small hand fit comfortably into his big hand, part of her wanted to slip her fingers through his to see what it felt like…she didn't. Luke started to move them both to the music and Lorelai watched him intently, tracing over his facial features, she didn't remember if she had ever been this close to him before, but yet it wasn't close enough.

'_Luke can dance'_ she screamed inside. She looked down at their feet, expecting at some stage for him to step on her toes like every other first dance she'd ever had but he didn't. Luke watched her intently and she held his gaze for a few seconds at a time before looking down at their feet, scared that he could see the feelings which were all lying just below the surface. As the dance continued she knew she had moved in closer to him so his hand was on the small of her back holding her close and her lips were almost brushing his ear.

"You can dance" she whispered into his ear making him almost shiver when he felt the warm breath on his skin. All he could do at that point was pull her closer so her head rested on his shoulder and give her other hand a small squeeze. Lorelai had no complaints as she felt his broad chest press against her, his warm breath on her neck and his fingers making small circular patterns on the small of her back. Every touch seemed charged and every gaze seemed intoxicating to them both. The song ended a minute later but neither wanted to move from the position they were in.

"Uhh well…" Luke started when he realized the song had just ended.

"One more, y'know since it's your sister's wedding you should probably dance to more than one song" Lorelai said when she lifted her head from his shoulder and gave him a shy smile as she thought up a reason to get another dance out of him. Opportunities like Luke dancing didn't come around everyday.

"Yeah maybe"

"Family values y'know" she reasoned.

"Yours being so strong" he rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile when she moved her arms around his neck at the start of the new song.

"I know so I'm the expert" she smirked as he put his arms around her waist.

A few minutes later and Lorelai was resting her head on Luke's shoulder, her eye's closed and breathing steadily. She tried to remember why she'd kept Luke at a distance for so long, why she'd never let anything happen between the only permanent man who'd ever been in her life. _'Because I don't want to lose him'_ she remembered. Although the explanation didn't mean as much now when she felt his strong arms wrapped around her and his body so close to hers. Opening her eyes she became aware of the many watchful eyes of town members who had their eyes glued to her and Luke.

"I hate this town" Luke muttered in her ear at that moment sending shivers up her spine as his lips brushed the top of her ear.

"You wanna get out of here?" she whispered.

"Definitely" he replied and the two of them slowly danced their way off the floor and after a few minutes they escaped and walked up a side street in the direction of Lorelai's house.

"So…that was a good wedding" Lorelai said to break the silence that had fallen between them.

"Yeah, a little nutty but good"

"Thanks for bringing me"

"There's no-one else I'd rather have taken" he said in a serious tone as he looked over at her. His intent gaze was met with a smile from her. It was unlike her usual one though, it was shy but her eyes seemed to light up and he could feel a smile making its way onto his face…her smile like her laugh had always been somewhat contagious to him. They walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence until they reached her house.

"This was fun."

"Yeah, it was." Luke agreed wholeheartedly, not remembering the last time he'd had as much fun.

"So, hard to figure out which part of the evening was my favorite."

"There were a few." _'Definitely the dance'_ he thought although he had to admit he had enjoyed her sitting on his lap as well.

"Uh, T.J. throwing his tights at the bachelors instead of Liz's garter? You ducked well, by the way."

"Pure self-defense."

"Ooh, the choking guy being Heimlich-ed by the court jester?"

"That was good."

"Or -- or, um, the minister making out with crazy Carrie? T.J.'s brother making out with crazy Carrie? Or that last guy making out with crazy Carrie? Who was that guy?" she laughed_. 'Carrie could have made out with every other guy there for all she cared, as long as Luke wasn't one of them' _Lorelai thought to herself.

"I think that was her husband."

"Poor Barry! - And it might be the dance." She laughed, knowing it was the dance…how could it not be?

"Really?"

"Have you been taking lessons?"

"That was all God-given talent." He replied with as much confidence as he could muster when they reached her porch and all he wanted to do was kiss her.

"It was fun" Lorelai repeated, wanting Luke to know just how much she'd enjoyed it.

"Yeah, it was." Luke smiled.

"We should do it again."

"What, you got another wedding coming up?"

"Nah, I meant have fun. You know, like a movie or something."

"I didn't think you were a movie guy."

"I can be a movie guy. You like movies." Luke stated, thinking he could be any type of guy she wanted.

"Yeah -- good, bad, and in-between."

"How 'bout next week? Sunday?"

"Sunday?" Lorelai asked confused.

"Sunday -- you free?"

"I-I think so."

"Okay, good. Good."

"So you're asking me out?" Lorelai asked wanting some confirmation from him.

"Mmm yeah" he replied a little shyly as he looked down at his shoes.

'_Finally'_ "Good…that's good" Lorelai smiled.

"Yeah…good" _'Finally' _he thought and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Uh you want to come in for a beer or something?" Lorelai asked, feeling that after the revelation she didn't want the evening to end yet.

"Sure" he grinned and stepped in behind her and followed her into the kitchen where she was getting two beers out of the fridge.

"Here" she said quietly as she handed him the beer, their fingers brushing over each others and they both glanced at each other as the sparks flew in all directions. Luke took the cap off his beer before reaching over to take off Loelai's cap after seeing she was having trouble. Meanwhile Lorelai was feeling stupid that she couldn't open her beer because now since he asked her out she was feeling nervous around him.

"You okay?" he asked sensing something up with her, he wondered if she was regretting agreeing to his date.

"Sure, y'know just tired" she lied.

"Oh okay, well I can go"

"Oh okay" Lorelai said feeling disappointed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Luke said obviously concerned, he put a hand on her arm and rubbed it gently. Looking up at him, her eyes met his and she let them trace over his face and let them linger on his lips. _'I wonder if he's a good kisser…I bet he is'_ she thought taking a step closer to him.

"I'm fine, good even"

"Good, you're just acting a little…strange"

"And that's different from normal?" she quipped shooting him a smile.

"Are you re-thinking our date is that what it is?" Luke asked slowly, not really wanting to hear her answer and hoping it wasn't the reason. Lorelai looked up at him and took another step closer placing one hand on his chest and the other on his cheek.

"What are you doing?" he said just above a whisper in a deep throaty tone which made Lorelai want to kiss him more.

"Not re-thinking" she whispered against his lips before she captured his lips with her own, letting the instant jolt of that first lip contact run through her. Luke's eyes widened when he first felt his lips on hers but they fluttered closed when he felt her lips move on his and he let his lips move tentatively as he savored the incredible feeling of her lips on his. His hands moved to her waist pulling her against him as the kiss deepened and Lorelai wrapped her arms around his neck. She slowly parted her lips and felt his tongue slid into her mouth. Their tongues engaged in a game of back and forth as they slid in out of each other's mouths, Luke running his hands up and down her back as she played with the small curls in his hair. A minute later and gasping for breath they pulled back from each other.

"That was…new" Lorelai whispered.

"So you weren't re-thinking" Luke said as more of a statement than anything else, grinning against her lips. Lorelai smiled and had a rush of confidence. Her nervousness from earlier was gone completely, and she took the chance to pull his bottom lip between her teeth, biting it lightly. He let out a guttural moan, and she responded by releasing his lip and opening her mouth slightly and his tongue glided over hers immediately.

* * *

**The next day…**

Lorelai opened her eyes and smiled as she remembered the night before, she snuggled into the arm wrapped around her shoulder and watched Luke as he slept. Hearing a strange sound from downstairs she kissed Luke's chest a few times before she carefully moved Luke's arm from around her and put on his white shirt…for once wishing he'd been wearing his usual flannel. Making her way downstairs she opened the front door and groaned when she saw the familiar animals waiting outside.

"Luke!" Lorelai shouted from the front door, turning to the stairs where Luke appeared in only a pair of boxers two minutes later.

"What? Why are you wearing my shirt?" he mumbled sleepily rubbing his eyes.

"Get down here" she called up and he appeared behind her.

"What?"

"The cats are back" she said pointing outside.

"You called me down here for that?" he grumbled running his hand through his hair.

"I just want them to go away by showing them my new boyfriend" she smiled pulling him into the doorway and ran her hand along the inside of his boxers.

"I'm not gonna be a crazy cat lady" she stated indignantly shooting a look at the cats.

"Yes just plain crazy" he grinned, liking the sound of boyfriend.

"Mmm something you'll have to deal with… now come back to bed" she said grabbing his hand and he grinned and let her pull him upstairs.

* * *

_Goodbye my pretties! Don't worry, I'll still call, I'll still write...just leave a review!_


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